JO Hambro Shuts Hedge Fund After VW-Porsche Trade

Bloomberg – JO Hambro Capital Management Ltd., which oversees about $3.5 billion of assets, will close one of its two hedge funds partly because a bet against Volkswagen AG shares backfired, people familiar with the situation said.

The $240 million Trident European Fund dropped 25 percent in October, its worst month since starting a decade ago, mainly after a bet on a drop in Volkswagen shares went awry, said the people, who declined to be identified because the firm doesn’t disclose returns. The fund has slumped 39 percent this year after posting average returns of 8.4 percent annually since its inception.

Poor performance, dollar gains sapping European investment returns and investors moving assets from medium-sized companies all contributed to the fund’s closure, Suzy Neubert, a spokeswoman for JO Hambro in London, said in an e-mailed statement.